On This Day in History - 30th November

30th November

King Cnut
(Source: BBC)

1016 - Cnut (or Canute), king of Denmark, claims the English throne after the death of Edmund 'Ironside'. We have mentioned Cnut before on A41 The Road to Discovery, that his mission to capture the English throne started by him sailing past Weston-super-Mare, at that time nothing more than an unremarkable fishing village of a few huts and boats, up to to Avonmouth, sailing up the Avon to Bristol (or Brigstowe as it was called at the time), and turning down the River Frome which still travels under Bristol to this day, but is covered over by road and concrete (The Bristol Hippodrome effectively stands on the banks of the Frome) onto the border of Somerset and Wiltshire to start his campaign

King Edmund II
(Source: NNDB)

1016 - Edmund II, Ironsides, King of the Saxons (1016), dies at 27, buried at Glastonbury Abbey, Somerset. He was originally King of Wessex, the ancient kingdom that included Somerset, but after his initially defeat on 18th October 1016 to the Danes the Kingdom of England was divided up between Edmund and the Danes. Edmund retaining control of Wessex, Cnut having the rest. When Edmund died the whole of England came under the control of Cnut and he became the first King of a unified England




1648 - English Parliamentary army captures King Charles I.

King Charles I
(Source: BBC)

During 1642, Charles fought both the English and his previous allies the Scots for control, believing that a King has "Divine Right" to rule, according to his own conscience rather than by laws, which made him very unpopular with a lot of his subjects. Eventually he surrendered to a Scottish force in 1645, and they took care of him for a while but eventually handed him over to the Parliamentary forces of Cromwell in 1648. Charles was eventually tried and convicted and sentenced to death for High Treason in January 1649.

Princess Augusta Saxe-Gotha
(Source: National Portrait Gallery)

1719 - Augusta of Saxe-Gotha, Princess of Wales - born in Gotha, Germany at the age of 16 she travelled to Britain and married Frederick, Prince of Wales. Between them they had 9 children, and after the death of her husband 9 years earlier, her son was given succession to the throne and became George III


1782 - Britain signs agreement recognizing US independence after years of bloody war. The Treaty of Paris was signed by the British Government in November 1782, conceding defeat in the war and handing independence to the United States, however, it wasn't until nearly a full year later on November 25th 1783 that all British forces and militia were fully disbanded and removed.  

Mark Twain
(Source: NPR Books)

1835 - Mark Twain, real name Samuel L Clemens, born. He was the author of the famous books about Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn, and had a vicious sense of humour, some of his biting quotes still exist now, such as “Never put off till tomorrow what may be done day after tomorrow just as well" and "Clothes make the man. Naked people have little or no influence on society"


1874 - Winston Churchill, Conservative British Prime Minister born. He saw first a career as a soldier, seeing action in Cuba, the Boer War, and the First World War before entering into politics. He was arguably the worlds greatest war time leader and inspired a nation during its hardest times

Kid Curry Logan
(Source: Eyewitness)

1902 - American Old West: Second-in-command of Butch Cassidy's Wild Bunch gang, Kid Curry Logan, is sentenced to 20 years imprisonment with hard labour 

Charlie Chaplin
(Source: Film Bug)

1913 Charlie Chaplin made his film debut without the moustache and cane in 'Making a Living'.
1936 The Crystal Palace was destroyed by fire. The spectacular blaze was seen miles away. Designed by Sir Joseph Paxton, it was originally erected in Hyde Park for the Great Exhibition in 1851.
1960 Gary Lineker, footballer, and former England captain, was born. Despite his long career, Lineker was never cautioned by a referee for foul play, a feat equalled only by Billy Wright, John Charles and Sir Stanley Matthews

1966 - Barbados becomes independent from the United Kingdom, after the Second War War, a lot of Great Britain's Commonwealth Territories demanded Independence. Barbados became an English (ad later British) Territory in 1627 when it was settled by English families looking for a new start. There was very little in the way of African Slaves in Barbados with the White Settlers working happily along side the African workers equally. This may be due in part that Barbados was also used as a "transport" location for British Prisoners, in the same way that prisoners were transported to Australia. When Judge Jeffries tried prisoners from the Monmouth Uprising, those who found themselves lucky enough not to be hung, would usually find themselves transported to Barbados to work on the plantations.
1982 A letter bomb exploded inside No. 10, Downing Street, injuring a member of staff. The package was sent by animal rights activists. Margaret Thatcher was at home when the device exploded but she was not hurt in the blast

Burt Lancaster
(Source: IMDB)

1990 - Actor Burt Lancaster suffers a stroke. He was initially an acrobat in the circus and performed with the special services during the Second World War entertaining the troops to keep up morale. Upon his return, he wanted work, didnt really wan to go into films but thought he would "give it a go". Between 1945 and 1980 he starred in many many films, gaining four Acadamy Awards in the process and his own star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. His last film was "Field of Dreams" in 1989 where he starred as the Old Doc character.

Operation Desert Storm
(Source: US Army)

1995 - Official end of Operation Desert Storm - This was the conflict to liberate Kuwait from Iraq's unlawful occupation. The Operation is famously called Desert Storm, but in the UK, its official name was actually Operation Granby.


1999 - British Aerospace and Marconi Electronic Systems merge to form BAE Systems, Europe's largest defense contractor and the fourth largest aerospace firm in the world. The site as Filton, Bristol was "assured" every success for the future. On that site, Filton had historically helped develop and build aircraft such as the BAE146 Whisper Jet, guided missiles such as Rapier, and even space vehicles and satellites such as the Giotto Probe, designed to intercept Halley's Comet